Dierdre Cieran

#CuPit post roundup!
#A #RF
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#amwriting #blueskywrites #writingcommunity #revspirations #WriteSky #WriterSky #Writers

Mood Board for Another Quest, a rom-com fantasy by author, Dawn Berkoski. Photos show trees with red and gold leaves, a well-trodden path through the forest, a Medieval castle, a sharp-edged dagger, flames reaching towards the heavens, and two hearts, one tiny and one large.

Monty Python's Life of Brian x Willow x Robin Hood: Men in Tights. #NA

Welcome to the Medieval Kingdom of Lindley, #Cupit!

*A wizard struggling with his powers
*A GNC thief with a grudge
*Dysfunctional found family
*Lots of armed men
*Anti-heroes find true love?!?

When regular quests won't do.

Photo collage: Spiderman mask; Batman comics ; girl with pumpkins; friends hug; boy reading comics; cookies and latte; skeletons “I don’t need infinite stretch to put my foot into my mouth.”

YA COSPLAY CYRANO
After his two best friends break up, 17yo comic nerd Zach gets stuck in the middle–just like with his divorced parents. So he dresses up as a superhero to patch their relationship incognito. His plan was foolproof.
Though catching feelings wasn’t part of the plan.
#RC #YA #Cupit

Mood board/Agent's guide for my novel CARGO - a queer SF/heist/romance - 113,000 words "Did you hear? There's a human on board." A graphic of the wall of a spaceship with sticky notes and polaroid photos taped up. There are twinkle lights hanging from the ceiling. alien ship's cook (fussy, anxious) + terrifying monster (ordinary human)

PITCH: Tai’s terrified of humans. Everyone is. Violent pack hunters, humans are notorious for their strength, sharp teeth, and carnivorous appetites. But the ship’s cook is safe among the multispecies crew of the cargo hauler Coreward Baker: everyone knows the warrior species rarely leave their own space. Then Captain Raz hires Clarke, a human horticulturist. Even after Tai overcomes their fear, they can’t stand Clarke. She’s bossy. Annoying. Useless in the galley, bad in a space suit. She might as well be cargo. Worse, she’s intent on befriending Tai—and why can’t they stop thinking about her, anyway? That’s when things go wrong. As Tai starts to realize their feelings for Clarke, they’re horrified to learn that nobody on their crew of dropouts and runaways is quite who they seem, least of all Clarke. And it’s no coincidence. Raz reveals they’ve each been handpicked for a heist he’s spent years planning—and no one’s allowed to say no. PRIORITIES: make dinner remain cozy haul cargo go for drinks pull off one last score try not to fall in love

FIRST PAGE: “Did you hear? There’s a Human on board.” I choked on my noodles and turned to stare at the diners at the next table. Like most of the restaurant’s patrons, the pair had hidden their profiles, a halfhearted attempt at anonymity. “Gross,” the speaker’s crewmate said, oblivious to my alarm. “I hope it leaves soon.” “Don’t let it hear you say that,” the first worker laughed. She made a show of looking for Humans, her eyes darting from table to table. It. I frowned. I knew the workers’ language distinguished between people and things, and ‘it’ was an unkind choice of words at best. The second worker shuddered. “I don’t know why we let them come here.” The first laughed. “Are you going to stop them?”

COMPS: Murderbot by Martha Wells Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers TROPES: Non-binary narrator masking anxiety with sarcasm lying to themselves non-human perspective (afraid of humans) neurodivergent main characters metaphorically disabled protagonist slow-burn friends-to-lovers and enemies to lovers in the same relationship disabilitynorm and queernorm setting found family loveable pet/terrifying monster

F/NB WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT
Ship's cook Tai just learned their new crewmate is a terrifying alien: an ordinary human woman. Now Tai's stuck with bickering crewmates, sinister criminals, explosions, and a human who wants to be friends. And why can't they stop thinking about her? #CuPit #SFR #SF #LGBT

The Summer I Turned Pretty for adults:
10 years ago, fallout from tragedy broke them apart. When reunited at the cottage for a wedding, she tries to resist the temptation of reigniting their flame, but he's the one who can't be trusted, and nostalgia might not be worth another heartbreak.
#cupit

Young woman with her head on the table - in profile - holding a drink.

The Best Kisser in Prague

🇨🇿 Gritty slow-burn ♥️

Amid the post-Revolution chaos of 1994 Prague, two expats determined to ‘kiss and run’ find their philosophy derailed by a single night of connection.

#Cupit #W #A #NA #R
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

THE UNFORTUNATE GARDEN WITCH'S GUIDE TO KISSING GIRLS OR THE NOVEL FORMERLY KNOWN AS AHARMONY OFWITCHS BY VICTORIA JAYNE YA SAPPHIC COZY ROMANTASY IN REVISIONS AS A WRITEHIVE MENTEE

Adagio WITH A PITCH LIKE AN AUTISTIC, TRANSFEMME, PLANT-KILLING GARDEN WITCH WORKS WITH A RIVAL MUSIC WITCH TO CARE FOR AN ANCIENT FLOWER. WIEN A MELTDOWN TURNS THE FLOWER SENTIENT, SHE MUST LEARN TO REGULATE HER EMOTIONS TO TURN IT BACK BEFORE THE FESTIVAL, TRYING NOT TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HER RIVAL ON THE WAY.

WITH COMPS LIKE WICKED VIBES EVERYTHING SHE DOES IS Magic TRANS WITCH MC A LOVE STORY TO RAISÉ THE DEAD WITCHCORE EMMA HINDS -BRIDGET MORRISSEY BARISTA'S GUIDE tr LOVE&. LARCENT BREWED WITH LOVE CAROLINE BONIN MC STRUGGLING WITH ABILITIES * SHELLY PAGE * SAPPHIC GIRLS WORKING TOGETHER

WITH TROPES LIKE TRANS TEEN MC MC STRUGGLING WITH MAGIC FEMME X FEMME CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO LOVERS WITTY, AUTISTIC HUMOR SUPPORTIVE GAY OLDER BROTHER HILARIOUS MIDPOINT PLOT TWIST WITH PROSE LIKE I GIVE HER A FEW SECONDS. THE HALF-MOON IN THE SKY BEAMS DOWN THROUGH THE CLEAR WINDOWS, CASTING A GENTLE GLOW ON THE PAIR OF US. I LOOK AT THE BRIGHT LIGHT OF MY PHONE, WHICH SHOWS A NOTIFICATION FROM THIRTY MINUTES AGO. A TEXT FROM MELODY SAYING, "WADDUP I'M BOREDDD." I SNICKER. THEN, YOUR FAMILY CAME LOOKING FOR YOU." "IS THAT SO?" SHE ASKS, TURNING HER HEAD TO FACE MINE AGAIN. THERE'S SOMETHING UNREADABLE ON HER FACE, AND THAT SCARES ME. MELODY IS AN OPEN-BOOK. SHE'S SITTING HERE IN A SAILOR MOON COSPLAY FOR MAGRATHAM'S SAKE. SHE'S NOT ONE TO HIDE OR CONCEAL. IT'S WHY THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS TAILOR-MADE TO TORTURE ME. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE FOR SOMEONE NOT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MELODY SHARPE. SHE'S THE ABSOLUTE WORST PERSON TO HAVE ON A STEALTH MISSION. YET, AS I'M GAZING INTO THOSE EMERALD EYES, I FIND MYSELF FLOODED WITH PURE CONFUSION. 'IS THAT SO?' WHAT A STRANGE RESPONSE.

#cupit #ya #rf #wip #AgentsGuide to my YA Cozy Romantasy pitched as WICKED meets LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

-20 agent requests
-2 big five editor full requests
-winner of two mentorships (Writehive and RT)
-in revisions now!

Art by EmArtStew on Instagram: A digital art drawing of a woman who stands staring off to the side of the camera. She has long loose curly brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. She is wearing a medieval style green dress with embellishments, and a necklace complete with golden wedding band.

KATABASIS X NETTLE AND BONE: a 79,000 word crossover romantic fantasy where a murdered bride must team up with a Mage-Knight to escape Hell and return to save the living from the clutches of the witch who killed her.

#Cupit #RoFa #POC #LGBT #YA #NA #WIP

*Image commissioned from @EmArtStew on IG

What a clever opening! Middle school science teacher approval!

I will always read #CuPit as "copper pit." (In case anyone needed proof I'm a chemist.)

Copper is, in fact, mentioned in ChemPortal. Electrochemistry AND romantic chemistry in one book! The combo you never knew you were missing...

#Q #R #SF #A

Moodboard. Centre image is a pressure cooker with "CHEMPORTAL" written across it. Outer images clockwise from top left: - fancy drinks and food on a table set for 2 - typed text on a page of a book. "Chemistry" is highly visible - a white woman with brown hair working on a car engine - the Toronto skyline - a colourful stack of books - a bright light shining through a partially open door, obscuring the world beyond - a bat hanging from a branch - a stack of latkes

What happens when a chemistry professor writes a romance?

If that prof is me, you get CHEMPORTAL, in which two awkward scientists battle cults, corporations, and unwanted feelings as they try to invent fertilizer.

Plus, feminist takes on science history. And maybe aliens.

#CuPit #Q #A #SF #R

My current Fantasy Rom Com WIP:

👸Royal fake dating
👑Princess x King
✨Humor (I think?)
💔Hopeless romantic who has given up on love
💚’Party 4 u’ vibes
❤️‍🩹Healing each other
🧚Fairytale vibes

#Cupit #RF #CFR #BIR #WIP

Mood board for Sage owen’s untitled Christmas romance novel. Includes a dark haired woman, a man in a cowboy hat, snowy small town countryside scenes, a holiday market, a piano and acoustic guitar, a woman cuddling a golden retriever, and a close up of a man and a woman’a hands loosely entwined.

An excerpt from a sage owen romance WIP, text as follows: "Need a jump?" he guessed out the window. If it was much more than that he wouldn't be much help. A face peered around the hood, squinting in his headlights. Well then. "Lark? It's Billy." Relief gave her the softest expression she'd showed him yet. She came around to his driver's side. How long had she been out here alone? She looked half-frozen. "Hi. My battery's dead, I think." "I've got cables. Want me to take a look?" "Thanks. I'm... hopeless about cars." He folded awkwardly into her driver's seat and tried to start the little car. It didn't make a sound. He dug around behind his seat for jumper cables and after a few minutes with the cars connected he tried her Toyota again. She was shifting from foot to foot, shivering, wasn't dressed for a prolonged stand about in the weather. "Go on and sit in the truck, why don't you? This'll take a few and it'll either work or it won't, no sense getting frostbite over it." Lark muttered something but after a moment she accepted his suggestion. He tried a few more things but five more minutes later he gave it up as a lost cause. He opened his passenger door and leaned in, relishing the blast of heat. "No luck. I can drop you someplace and we can deal with it tomorrow, or I'll wait with you for a tow." "We?" she sounded skeptical. "Not to presume but I work the opening shift at the nearest auto parts store, so I'm probably who you'll need to see for a new battery, unless you take it to a shop and give a middle man the privilege." "Unbelievable." She hissed under her breath. He stepped back, didn't want to loom over her. Lark closed her eyes, tipped her head toward the ceiling, drew in a slow purposeful breath. Then she straightened and nodded. "Alright. Let me get my things." So he closed her hood and his, then held the passenger door for her. She gave him a look. "Are you kidding?" "No ma'am." He grinned, and maybe it was a little rude to needle her when she was a

Lark is at rock bottom. Betrayed, career in ruins, lying to everyone she loves… and the holiday market she’s working keeps running her into a man who smiles like he’s never met a problem.

🎄holiday romance
🔥 slow burn
🤫 secrets
😒🤠 grumpy/sunshine
🏘 small town
🌶reluctant chemistry
#cuPit #w #a #cr

Time for #CUPIT Here is my pitch for my #GraphicNovel

Lore Olympus x TV show LOKI x High School Musical
👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 #Sapphic #Romance
📖Greek #Mythology
🌧️ #GrumpySunshine☀️
🧂 #Fantasy (light)
🎒H-School Crush
#RF #SFR #YA #HA #LGBT

#authorilustrator #litagents #kidlit #agentguide #amquerying #GraphicNovelArt

DRAG YOU DOWN is THE SIREN x NETTLE AND BONE

Cursed to live as one of the very sirens she used to hunt, Cordelia wants to keep her past a secret. But when her family finds her, they give her a choice: come home or watch them kill the woman she loves.

#cupit #lgbt #f #h #r #a #amquerying

A Roman soldier stares across a wild vista, while a Roman woman walks away. We see the Legionary fortress gate and an armed barbarian on the other side. A heart knits them together.

#Cupit #A #HR #Q Beyond the Gate - Forced to join the legions or lose the farm,Titus must divorce Marcella as only officer's can be wed. Unwilling to wait his 20-yr deployment, Marcella lives beyond the fortress gate w/the other 'barbarian wives' when an officer disappears. Who killed Quintus & why?

If you like Heated Rivalry, you'll love Love and Lust a Legionary Romance. Castra Vetera's top doc Galenus falls for Marcus, a disgraced engineer plagued with survivor's PTSD. In a May/Dec romantic thriller they find love while facing bloody barbarians, ghosts, plague & Caesar. #Cupit #HR #MR #Q

Side by side photos of a woman with curly hair and a male firefighter. Text: THE SLOW BURN: A small-town holiday romance

Now Querying!

THE LOVE HATERS X LOVELIGHT FARMS

🎄an event planner with a promotion on the line
🚒 a firefighter who works for her dad
🎄 planning a gala together, but "let's keep it casual"
🚒 their chemistry threatens her career, family relationships, and the gala itself

#cupit #cr #rc #q #a

There is Rustrock and Lava Town, and there is nothing and no one else. Not for many miles, unless you consider the countless ruins and the deadly and diseased creatures that infest them, or the occasional peddler coming to deliver tales of distant civilizations. But here and now, there is only Rustrock and Lava Town. It would be best if they got along. They do not. The Queen, the active volcano that Lava Town takes its nickname from, looks out over all of them. The seasons are harsh. Cass may not have been born in Rustrock, but her loyalty to it is absolute. If she can prove herself by helping the struggling town survive, perhaps she can even earn the reputation that the rumors of her origin give her. But Lava Town's flock of flying marauders seem to be there to thwart Rustrock at every turn, and her secret connection to their leader only complicates things. When mysterious strangers from the north turn up, however, it may be a grand opportunity or an omen of worse things to come.

A promo image reading: Under the Furious Sun - Sign up for the newsletter and read the prologue for free on February 28th. Sign up at AmeliaLRigby.com

On February 28th, the prologue for Under the Furious Sun will be sent out to newsletter subscribers! Interested in apocalyptic dark adventure fantasy with a side of spice?
Here ya go.
#CuPit #WriteSky #fantasy #apocalyptic #books #BookSky #reading

Sign up here: stats.sender.net/forms/av2k18...

BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD x LIGHTS OUT X BRIDE

👵 A missing grandmother
🐺A wolf shifter crime boss
🐈‍⬛ A black cat homicide DA
🤌 An offer she can't refuse

She's the only one he's ever wanted. He's the one thing she can't resist.

And it's her job to put him in prison.

#cupit #pr #dr #MfR #BnR #A #RoFa

Thank you!

Thank you!

EVERY SUMMER AFTER X HAPPY PLACE

When her ex shows up at her sister's wedding, a heartbroken woman faces the tragedy that broke them up 10 years ago at the cottage, is pulled into a spiral of distrust that brings out her worst and an HEA may not even be worth it. #cupit #a #cr

Heartbroken summer camp staff Sage and Nico start a casual relationship to get over their recent heartbreaks. Nico realizes he wants this to be more than a summer thing, but Sage has some unfinished business back at school that she won't let go of so easily.

#cupit #na #cr

Moodboard. Centre image is a pressure cooker with "CHEMPORTAL" written across it. Outer images clockwise from top left: - fancy drinks and food on a table set for 2 - typed text on a page of a book. "Chemistry" is highly visible - a white woman with brown hair working on a car engine - the Toronto skyline - a colourful stack of books - a bright light shining through a partially open door, obscuring the world beyond - a bat hanging from a branch - a stack of latkes

Ali Hazelwood meets AndyWeir in CHEMPORTAL: Two awkward scientists must overcome their mutual dislike to save the work in this speculative romcom with real chemistry.

#CuPit #A #R #SF #Q

Pink cassette tape labeled "Mix for Mika"; title: The Best Kisser in Prague

The Best Kisser in Prague

🇨🇿 A crossroads in history
🇨🇿 Expats in Prague
🇨🇿 Early-90s nostalgia
🇨🇿 Gritty slow-burn ♥️

#Cupit #W #A #NA #R
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

A movie poster for "CARGO", depicting a sunset with two crescent moons in the sky. In the foreground are silohettes of two people, only their arms visible, their pinky fingers grasping each other tightly. The arm on the left is thinner and has four fingers. The arm on the right is of average proportions and has five fingers. The top of the poster reads "A match made in space. While stealing things." Below the name "CARGO", there is smaller writing in an alien language, presumably the title translated. At the bottom of the poster, the credits section is as follows: CATHERINE WINTERS AND COREWARD BAKER PRODUCTIONS LTD PRESENT A CATHERINE WINTERS NOVEL ‘CARGO’ STARRING TAI OF MICAPA THYLLIS CHAUMEDEROT TALATAGARI QUIRIN TALATAGARI ANENTO FRANK THE CAT JEREL BESKROS CHOST MOL RAZIK FEATURING COOL MOSS ABOVE STILL WATER AND INTRODUCING CLARKE SHIPS BY SETEBO-URANQ AND CONSTANT VERIDITY INTERSTELLAR COSTUMES BY UPPER CORE ATELIER “HUMAN” CREATURE EFFECTS BY 3.8 BILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTION CASTING BY THE TRADE AUTHORITY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER CATHERINE WINTERS DIRECTED BY CATHERINE WINTERS WRITTEN BY CATHERINE WINTERS

WAYFARERS x MURDERBOT x SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN

Tai can get through this. Things'll go back to normal. Steal the cargo, stop thinking about the human, wipe the security feed, stop thinking about the human, get out of the vault, stop thinking about the human. Easy. #CuPit #SFR #LGBT #SF #A

IF I FALL FOR YOU

A young woman earns a coveted spot on an expedition to flee her family's curse, but comes face to face with the one person prophesized to seal her fate and struggles between the warm heights of love and the frigid depths of fear.

#Cupit #A #FR

SHIELD OF SPARROWS X SWORDHEART

🍃 Enemies to lovers
🍃 Forced proximity
🍃 Snowed-in
🍃 There's only one bedroll

#CuPit #A #RF